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prize to be won, but solely for the honor that a horse of their own breed- 

 ing and training should distinguish himself. Mr. Daniel Ravenel, and 

 many others of the high-minded turfmen of those days, expressed great 

 disapprobation at any departure from the good old customs of their 

 fathers, and did all in their power to prevent a change, when it was 

 proposed. The prize used to be, not a purse of gold or silver, but a 

 ■piece of plate. Several of these tokens of success are in the possession 

 of the descendants of those who formerly, owned race horses in the 

 State. 



Such were the races in South Carolina ! Let us hope, then, that we 

 of the present generation will never feel less attachment than our fathers 

 did, to the sports of the Turf ; and that, whatever other changes may 

 occur in our State, no change will ever take place in the celebrity of 

 our horses ; that the animating spirit of the chase will, in all time to 

 come, continue to call our youth to the woods, and the rational amuse- 

 ment of the course, our sportsmen to the Turf I 



After the Revolution, racing was revived in South Carolina in 1Y86. 

 During that and the following season, however, only a few gentlemen 

 trained their own horses and those of their friends that were thought 

 to give any great promise. Hence the number of horses trained was 

 few, and not many races were run in public. A grey horse, called 

 Ranger^ the property of Col. Washington, seems to have been the cock 

 of the walk in the State, winning all the' principal events, until beaten 

 by the celebrated Comet in 1*788, carrying 140 pounds, 4 mile heats, 

 over the Newmarket Course (the exact location of which has already 

 been described) near Charleston. It must have been a fine race, and a 

 very sporting affair, according to tradition. 



Comet was a black horse by Mark Anthony, bred by Mr. Nash, in 

 North Carolina. He was a wonderfully great little horse, very small, 

 only fourteen hands and a half high — some accounts say only fourteen 

 hands. He was a black, with blaze face, and had eyes, in which the 

 iris was of a very light grey color, and all his legs were white to the 

 knees — he ran with his hind legs very much apart, but he could run all 

 day. He was a winner from Petersburg to Charleston. He was first 

 brought to South Carolina by Mr. Twining. Comet was sometimes 

 entered by Col. Alston, and sometimes by Gen. Hampton. 



Ranger was a descendant of an imported horse by the same name, 

 (got by Martindale's Regulus, a son of the Godolphin Arabian,) im- 

 ported into Maryland about the year 1767, by Dr. Thomas Hamilton, 

 of Prince George's county. 



